Howard University Opening Convocation (Gladys Creppy- Hetherington)

The Howard University was a great way to start of the beginning of a new year of learning just as they had for one-hundred and forty-four years. The convocation was very light hearted. There were many stories and jokes told throughout the program. I really appreciated them explaining why HBCUs were still needed due to the amount of degrees given to blacks and the amount of black students who are not in college.

I completely agree with this because the black race has really fallen behind in academics which I believe affects how not only others, but also how we view ourselves as a whole.

The speakers definitely connected with the student audience by keeping everything easy to comprehend and interesting. Dr. Lomax was very inspirational to me because of all the hardwork he does to benefit the black community through scholarships and his personal dedication to black colleges and universities. Its people like him that the black community needs to idolize, not Lil Wayne and 50 cents.

This is my first time ever attending any convocation and I definitely enjoyed and benefited greatly from it.

The African Burial Ground and Its People (Gladys Creppy- Hetherington)

Professor Mack’s lecture made me very sad and also angry. The African Burial Ground story reminds me that there is still injustice and racism in the United States. Our ancestors struggled during slavery days and the last thing they deserved was to have a building built on top of their resting place.

I have not kept up with the news so this is the first time I ever heard about the African Burial Ground. The lecture really informed about the events that had taken place. I was born in Africa where the people there had never experienced slavery. Everyone was pure African so I never knew slavery existed until I moved to the states. Though my family had no personal experience with slavery, I was still affected by Professor Mack’s lecture because I was imagining what all the family members of the buried had to go through. If anything, I know many wanted justice for their ancestors which many did not get.

One thing I did find interesting was how they were able to learn or interpret so much from just analyzing the remains. For example, in the lecture, it was mentioned that the remains that had filed teeth were originally from Africa. I didn’t even know that they filed teeth in Africa and I was born there. I definitely see why Anthropology has been such a huge apart of African American history. It helps us id and learn more about the lives of the loved ones we never had a chance to meet.

Over the lecture was very informational and really got me thinking about how fair the United States really is. All this talk about freedom and equality goes flushing down the toilet every time an event as discriminatory as the African Burial Ground takes place.

As for the “Ancestral Rites of Return” video, it really brought up my spirit. To see how much love and care was put into reburying our ancestors made very proud. I especially loved the personalized crisps and how everyone came together to throw such a monumental home going for the people who truly put America on top.

I especially appreciated the fact that each family member was able to perform their own celebrations for their ancestors. I believe that was a good way for them to have personally acknowledged and said goodbye to their family members.

I am truly appreciative to Howard for participating in this event. I believe that Howard wanted to learn more about the people buried and what their lives may have been like as slave. I also believe that Howard wanted to bring together the many families who had family members buried and didn’t even now it. Howard truly played a role in bringing closure to many of those families and introducing them to the people they probably would have never known about.

As I think about visiting the Burial Ground, I feel that I will probably be very sad due to the hardships the people had to go through and also hatred toward the people that caused those hardships. I will definitely be an eye opener to me because I have read and learned about slavery but have never had such a close encounter to it.

I learned a lot this week from many different sources such as the website provided to us. The vocabulary words had so much meaning behind them and some I had never even heard before such as Nisibidi which was the ancient writing system for Africans and means love and unity.

The Historical 144th Opening Convocation of Howard University

I must admit I was very annoyed to find out that all freshman seminar students had to go to the Convocation. The event is not on the syllabus and we had to check blackboard to have any idea that attending it and writing a blog would be for a grade. That wasn't the least of my troubles, however. I believe the announcement said that the opening convocation would start at 11 PM. When I arrived at 11:05, it seemed as if I had missed over half of the program. I find it unlikely that the multiple songs by the university choir, procession, presentations of colors, and the like were all performed in those 5 minutes that I missed. Nonetheless, I made it in time to see the presentation of the speaker and hear Dr. Michael L. Lomax's speech on the continued importance of HBCU in society.

I learned that as one of the top HBCU in the country, Howard is going to need to set an example to the rest of the 100+ colleges and universities in the group to continue to provide black students with opportunities to receive college degrees as well as prepare them for the world. I personally liked the part where Dr. Lomax stated many statistics on how graduation rates of black students, specifically black males, were below par in schools all around the U.S. but those numbers were significantly higher in HBCUs.

I also found out that alumni have a much bigger part in an institution's mission than just having passed through. Alumni support, at 11% now, is necessary for an institution to make its way to other corporations and institutions and try to gain support for the goals and objectives in mind. When Dr. Ribeau did the acknowledgments, it was nice to see how many visitors and supporters of Howard were present in the assembly. Faculty and staff were all present and many prominent men and women, including alumni, also showed up to show support for Howard's 144th year of service and truth. In the end, I suppose I'm glad I went.

The New York African Burial Ground

For some reason, I always thought a trip to the New York Burial Ground would be one of the dullest things to do w/ my October weekend. But, After hearing so many interesting facts and history about the site from Professor Mack, my interest peaked. Thousands of people are believed to have been buried there, and scientists and archaeologists, specifically those on Howard University's staff, are working together toward finding out more about each burial and the culture that was buried with them.

Interestingly enough, professor Mack stated that at least 10,000 bodies are buried in the site although only several hundred have been found thus far. His personal experiences really tied me more to the facts he was mentioning, making me give them more value. For example, professor Mack was head of osteopathy in 1992 and determined many characteristics of the bodies while he was there. There were lots of babies, neonatal and perinatal alike, were buried along with many adult men and women. Of these women, 65% of them had muscle tears in their chest and hips, and some also fractured their vertebrae. Maybe it's just me, but something about these facts makes me want to look more into what these people might have looked and how they might have behaved in this new environment.

One way of figuring this out is to look at how they were buried. Apparently, 91% of the 419 bodies taken out were in coffins. It is assumed that Africans buried Africans since they were the labor force of the day. Also, since so much care was taken with burying these people, we can also assume that Africans had feelings for each other and tried to take care of each other even in death. One example of this care is a buried coffin that had a sankofa, a heart shaped design based on a bird, inscribed on the coffin. Findings like these change the way we see our ancestors now. It's a shame that the government did not stop the buildings from being constructed and designating the African Burial Ground as a sacred site.

But this site isn't the only one. Professor Mack asked an interesting question when he said, "ask yourselves, 'where are my ancestors buried?'" There are many other African burial sites where our other ancestors may also be hidden or covered under buildings. We may find more men with filed teeth, or wavy teeth, or buried with a coin in their eyes like in the New York site. Perhaps we will find out more about how our ancestors suffered from disease or overworking conditions that may have resulted in their deaths. Or perhaps we could find more underdeveloped or newborn babies buried with their mothers or fathers in white shrouds. These findings, and more, challenge me to find out how Howard University and scholars' role may be able to advance research and discovery in this matter.

After visiting the http://www.nps.gov/afbg/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm address, my overall impression of the monument and movement is impressive. Considering the trouble people had to go through to get the ground available for excavation and research, it shows how well everyone who worked on the project persevered in order to protect a vital part of our past in order to preserve it and learn from it. It was heartwarming to see how much care was put into burying the bodies and it pains me to see how much of our culture has been lost. I also found it inspiring how much respect people had for the site and even now, I'm not sure how I want to approach the burial ground. I can barely walk in a cemetery comfortably let alone a site of this importance.

NY African Burial Blog

The New York African Burial ground was the topic of Professor Mack’s lecture. This lecture interested in me because it was not only history but it was the present. This burial ground was used all the way from 1650 to 1795. The burials were not discovered until the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. However, it was kept a secret from most of the community. The US government had planned on just excavating the site and then building, until they decided to just build on top of it. Finding this out honestly hurt my feelings and made me sad. To think that if I went to the sites in October, I would be stepping on an estimated 10,000 people’s burials. It hurt to think that some of those people might be my ancestors, the origins of my family that were being stepped on. It disgusted me to the fullest after hearing what these people endured and being treated with so little respect. They are being treated as if they are lower than the dirt on the bottom of someone’s shoes. These people buried went through hell just to survive and then be buried as if they were dogs. The investigations on the bones showed that 65% of the women had muscle tears from pushing or pulling things that were far to heavy for them. (Dr. Mack’s power point) Another woman’s bones showed that she had sustained much abuse. She had a bullet in her bones, a fractured jaw, and a broken arm. (Dr. Mack power point)These kinds of things happened to women all the time because women worked alone in the homes. They had no way to be safe, and if they messed up it could spell the end of their life. Men worked in large groups out in the fields, so there was a small aspect of safety in numbers.

It made slightly happy to know that the people banded together. One reason being that if they had not, they would not have survived so there would not be a large African American population in the US now. Africans buried Africans and tried to bury them the way they would be back home. Then there was a change of rules and there were no more night burials allowed, no more than 12 people allowed to witness burial and they needed permission. The fact that whites imposed these rules on a funeral is sad, and shows how afraid they were that the Africans were planning something.

I feel that I will still be conflicted when going in October, just because of the circumstances and controversy of the burial grounds. I like the idea of the monument and gallery though. The heavy symbolism adds to the historical aspect of things. By using the symbols from other cultures within Africa, it gives a thorough representation of the people that might be buried there. I say that because there is not guarantee that all the people buried came from the same location, but multiple symbols of multiple places, everything is represented in a very symbolic and beautiful way. I listened to narrations on the symbols of Legba, Yowa, Akoma,Nsibidi, and Denkyem. They were all very interesting and hearing about what they meant was very nice. However, it would have been more effective to have a video in place also so I could view the symbol. I feel I am missing information now because I cannot see the symbol but I know about it and what it means. I believe Howard was chosen to study the bones because it is the most qualified school to do so. It is a well known HBCU and everyone respects it. Howard’s involvement in this project does not “inspire” me to use academic knowledge because its involvement is not an inspiring thing. It could have just as well been another school that was chosen so this is not some kind of Cinderella type involvement story. It is not inspiring to me; however, I will still use academic knowledge to aid the community in anyway possible.

This presentation gave me mixed feelings on going to the African burial grounds. I want to go for the experience, but I do not want to step on peoples graves and disrespect them in that way. As of now I plan to go but I will most likely be reluctant to walk anywhere to close because I do not want to step on the burials. I feel the burials are sacred and should be untouched.

Convocation blog

This blog entry will be about convocation. Before I go into what I thought about it and reflection, I would like to discuss the amount of confusion I incurred the moment I arrived. I was told in the emails and it also said on the program that convocation began at eleven in the morning. However, when my floor mates and I arrived it seemed as though the ceremony had been going on for a while already, so I think its safe to say I missed a large portion of the event.

Nevertheless, I found convocation to be quite interesting. It made me feel good to know I was part of Howard’s 144^th year of education. I also enjoyed Dr. Michael L. Lomax’s speech. It really got me thinking about what I will do when my time at Howard is done. He urged us the students, the future alumni, as well as the current alumni to step up and be donors to Howard. HBCU’s everywhere are in need of more and more funding, for scholarships to low-income students. With no money, students cannot attend school; and without students, schools cannot exist. It is up to us the future alumni and the current alumni, to donate and provide money for scholarships. Then HBCU’s everywhere can continue to prosper and further the education of young minorities.

On another note, I enjoyed the choir and the orchestra. They were very good. This convocation also revealed to me that I must learn the Alma Mater haha. Overall it was an enriching and enlightening experience

Never Forgotten Only Reborn

 

Posted by Breyona Colley at Sunday, September 18, 2011 5:09:40 PM EDT

Dr.Beatty's lecture was actually kind of eye opening. When I say eye opening I mean that it made you think in ways that you didn't think before and made you realize things that never seemed like they could have existed without someone bringing it to your knowledge and luckily he brought them to mine. The three things that he really opened my mind to was explaining the dismemberment, cultural meaning-making, and social structure.
When explaining the dismemberment I never thought about certain things he pointed out such as, "when you are conceptualized as empty you fill yourself up with whatever is around you, whatever you think will make you whole." or "it is imperative to re-write the history of the Americas emphasizing the African presence." These two statements made me really think. The thing that people never realize is that they are both very true statements that are still in existence today and are relevant to everything we continue to do. When the African slaves were first brought over to America they were broken into the form that the white slave master wanted them to be in. They took their spirit, their overall mindset and changed it to fit their likings, wants and needs, and they changed the way we looked at one another. As the white slave owners continued to do this they took the African mindset to which was beautiful, full, and still consuming knowledge and drained it dry. To this they made the slaves in a way "empty", they had no knowledge of anything that was the past all they knew was what was the past can no longer be the future because it only leads to upsetting the white man which in return means upsetting my neutral state. This makes that statement "when you are conceptualized as empty you fill yourself up with whatever is around you, whatever you think will make you whole," become very real. They were conceptualized as empty which means all they could fill themselves with was what was around them whether it was knowledge, hatred for one another, the new culture to which they were being introduced to, or just the shear fact that they were inferior to that of the white man, this mindset was to take place. And as a young African-American you never really think about the mindset change that occurred during that time period because we never had to experience that change. We have always known what we have been told by our grandparents and parents and through history class and documentaries and all these other things but we never truly experienced that change in a mindset so we never fully understood that concept, or at least I know I did not and still do not. But the one thing that I do understand is that the mindset that is always shared with my generation about the suffering and the change and everything else that was said could not have been fully correct otherwise the next statement which Dr. Beatty made would not be put into perspective or otherwise a factor in the lecture he gave us. The statement, "it is imperative to re-write the history of the Americas emphasizing the African presence," has a whole new meaning when it is broken down. Lets start from the beginning. "it is imperative that we re-write history" now if the mindset was changed from the proud African to the broken African slave like every textbook makes it out to be then why is re-writing the history a necessity? The next part, "of the Americans emphasizing the African presence," now I am no genius or world wide known scholar or anything but I am sure that when they are talking about the African presence they are not talking about the fact that Africans were here and made a change for the better because the white man could not do it on their own and that is why they went looking for someone else that could do the job. I could be completely ignorant to the fact and that could be what they are speaking of but I highly doubt it. So if this mindset that we are always told of that was so broken and destroyed then how is it that we are supposed to re-write the history of their presence being here? How could this broken mindset have changed what we have already been taught? So in other words, basically the mindset we were told they had was not the true mindset. It wasn't as broken and forgotten as they made it out to be but it was strong, intelligent and determined. It was strong enough that it knew it could not be broken, it was intelligent enough to know that it needed to hide what it was and pretend it was just what the white man wanted and it was determined enough to never forget where it came from and to know that it was never going to forget it. So why isn't this side of the African mindset ever talked about or even speculated about within the history books we are forced to learn from? The reason being the African mindset is still in place we are strong, intelligent, and determined enough to let the white man think he has won and broken the mind but in all actuality it's their mindset that has been broken and formed to fit the way we see things.
With the Cultural meaning-making aspect of the lecture it ties in everything that was previously mentioned. The presence of the African mind has never been forgotten it was only reborn into the ways of the country. Such as with Language, there are distinctive African speech communities such as the pre-verbal aspect markers, no copula verb to link subject noun and adjective, non-inversion of subject and auxiliary in questions that was specified by Dr. Beatty's powerpoint. Or with the dancing and even within music and how it has features of antiphony, group nature, pervasive functionality, improvisational character, strong relationship in performance to dance and bodily movements and expression, that is reflected in every aspect of "American" dance and music and yet its roots are actually of african descent. This was also specified by Dr.Beatty's powerpoint. The African presence was never forgotten here it was transformed into a new body to take and morph the America's into what it has become.
Even continuing with the Social Structure aspect of his lecture there is even evidence of the African presence in the creation and modeling of family patterns and political and social structures.The roles, traditions and rituals, that are experienced such as a baptism has an African influence with the water baptisms, or speaking in tongues, possession, or even the funerary rites all have an African influence. The prominent role of mother, is one of a king, chief, minister, sage, and where the elders, ancestors, priests, diviners, blacksmiths and many others have a hidden background of African decent. All this was pointed out by Dr.Beatty's powerpoint. And even when it comes to being a soldier or a laborer or a personal servant or anything along those lines it once again goes back to the African influence that it has had on this country. It goes all the way back to the slave times when they were forced into these positions and now they are no longer jobs of the low class or jobs that people should be ashamed of having but now they stand with honor and have meaning and little do they know that it came with the influence that Africans made when holding these jobs, they made them jobs worth having. Going back to what I said about the African mindset being strong enough to transform or even let the white man believe he broke the African mind, the African mindset was strong enough to trick the white man and now the world that he believed he has created and now lives in is the world that he once tried to destroy.
Breyona Colley

Dr. Mario Beatty Lecture

Posted by Gladys Creppy-Hetherington at Sunday, September 18, 2011 6:01:19 PM EDT

Dr. Mario Beatty’s lecture was quite confusing to me. I kind of felt like he was rushing so much and that I could not quite keep up with him at times. Some points did capture my interest, however; the whole idea that Africans were greatly affected by being forced away from their lives and put in such unfamiliar circumstances is something I completely agree with. I know that it was probably not easy on their psyche but I do admire that they were able to adapt and even prosper, to whatever extent, in such harsh and unfair conditions.

I was also very interested when Dr. Beatty discussed how American history does not contain the extreme impact that Africans have had on this nation. I agree with this because all you see or learn in school regarding Africans usually deals with the civil rights movement or slavery. Though these are important events, you don’t really hear about other impacts we’ve had on America such as bringing music and trades such as agricultural cultivation and carpentry that are essentials in the American world. There are so many other events that have taken place in America, that I feel African Americans have had an impact on that are just not mentioned in the “American” history.

In his lecture, Dr Beatty also discussed how Africans to this day, are still changing and adapting themselves to current social conditions just as our ancestors had when they were first brought to America. Dr. Beatty refers to this as an explanation of dismemberment. This can easily be seen in society by the way African Americans dress and comport themselves. We perm our hair so it can be straight like the white men’s, we follow styles that the white man has set, and we act like the white men and cringe away from anything that might somehow associate us with Africa. This is very disappointing to me because when I look around at our race, I see so much wasted potential that could be used to better our entire race. And how we could learn so much from our pass and how we went about life in Africa before it was completely ripped from our hands.

Self governance is also something I truly believe that the African American race should truly take into mind. I believe that we need to break free from the people that have oppressed us for so long in order to regain control of our lives. That is the only way that we would be able to break the boundaries that have been set by our oppressors so in the end, we can achieve the true greatness that we were meant to fulfill.

Abandonment and dismemberment blog (Khalil)

Dr. Mario Beatty had an interesting lecture, which made me think about hidden things and what is being covered up. The three main points in his lecture was that there is an underlying African presence in all things, we as a people need to avert our eyes from “the gaze of the colonizer to view the African side of things and the methodologies” and finally that the historical narratives on African culture and people are wrong.

Dr. Beatty stated that there is an underlying African presence in the Americas and all over the world. Many things in the Americas have an African background that is not known by everyone. However, from 1492 to 1776 millions of people were moved to the Americas, and Caribbean, and in most cases five out of every six people were African, so it should not be surprising to people that there is an overwhelming African presence in the Americas. Nor should it be a surprise that many things in the Americas have African roots or background. For instance, the cross for Christianity resembles the Kongo Cosmogram. This shows underlying Africanism in religion, and that many things originated in Africa or are based off of African ideologies.

The similarities of the two are very noticeable. This is just one of the many things that shows an African presence within. There is also a presence in science and technology. That is demonstrated through musical instruments that resemble ancient African instruments. However, even with this overwhelming evidence, there are attempts to hide the underlying Africanism in science, technology, and religion. Dr. Beatty also pointed out how it is necessary to stop things in the eyes of “the colonizer” or white people, so we can see the African influence and African history in the world.

Dr. Beatty mentioned the historical narratives of African history and how academic scholars use them to discuss the history of Africans. Most of the narratives are those of loss and emptiness. They do not celebrate the culture but rather say there is no culture because they count history as beginning for Africans once they got over to the Americas and were slaves. An example of a historical narrative is that “African’s lost their culture, voice, names etc.” ( Dr. Beatty power point ) This characterizes the emptiness within, which leads to the African people being filled with everything they encountered. This is called “acculturation”. Due to acculturation, or the adherence to societies rules and social behaviors by Africans, it led to a discontinuation of certain traditions and culture practices, which in turn led scholars to believe culture was lost. However, that is far from being the case. African culture is present in music, language/speech, arts, food, and religion. Also known as the five culture areas. For instance, in music, uses of antiphony, and pervasive funcuality show African roots/culture. The speech of Africans are distinctive and are shown in everyday speech patterns of African Americans. We take out the copula verb that links the subject noun and adjective. An example Dr. Beatty gave was instead of saying “she is bad or she is fine”, we say “she bad or she fine”. It is not proper English but it gets the point across and is clear speech.

Dr. Beatty’s lecture made me think about the underlying African presence in all things that I previously thought to be white or have Caucasian origins.

kongo cosmogram pic from (http://landofkam.wordpress.com/)

cross pic from (http://karenswhimsy.com/cross-symbols.shtm)

Steeve Pierre-Louis -- Something Torn and New

I must admit, as soon as I heard Dr. Beatty's accent, I sighed along with many of my fellow students. I figured that this lecture on Dismemberment and Abandonment would be something drawn out and quite frankly, boring. But throughout his lecture, Dr. Beatty brought up many peculiar historical analyses that managed to keep me awake. The things that spoke to me the most were his points on fulfillment when you experience loss and/or separation, the Q&A section, specifically the part where Dr. Beatty discussed the open-mindedness of Africans and how that allowed them to assimilate the Christian religion into their own, and the 5 areas that moved from Africa to America that influence today's society.

Unlike the previous lectures, Dr. Beatty focused more on a history and analysis of the black diaspora: the dismemberment, which is the middle passage and the transport of Africans to the New World, and the abandonment, which is the loss of culture and history the descendants will experience. The dismemberment process was so big that by 1776, 5/6 people in the new world were from Africa. And these Africans had to fill themselves with the new environment to escape total loss. Now my story compared to this may be trivial, but it covers the save fundamental principle of loss and fulfillment. When my bike was stolen over a month ago, I felt violated and essentially loss. I solemnly wondered what I was now to do with my free time. After a week or so of rarely going outside, I began to take walks. Then I began to run and walk, alternatively. Finally the habit evolved to jogging. I found something to fill and replace the hole in my heart and that relates to what the Africans had to do when they reached the Americas and the Caribbean.

One of the most important things that Africans absorbed was Christianity. At the end of the lecture, a student asked, 'why or how did Africans so easily adapt to the Christian faith if it was so heavily influenced by Europe?' Dr. Beatty's reply definitely satisfied me. He mentioned that Africans don't believe that just one faith holds the truth, and that the truth is somewhere among all these different faiths. That attitude allowed them to see certain parts of Christianity that went along with their own religions and so made sense to them in some way. That point of view closely matches mine. With so many religions in the world, I seriously doubt one has it all right. It's been this attitude that has allowed me to understand people very well, especially with matters concerning religion.

Africans didn't just accept Christianity exactly the way Europeans did. They added their own spice to it. Religion, along with music, speech, food, and art, were brought from Africa with them and those exports continue to affect us today, such as how African-American churches function; how we speak to each other, what we eat, and how we interpret and perform art. Dr. Beatty mentioned that to look at the African presence, however, we can't look at it the same way that it's in the books. The books don't use methods that research the African presence like Michael Gomez, who tried to see us through our entire history rather than our history since we were discovered and popularized in the 1500s. Tracing back our history, similarly mentioned in the last lecture, or otherwise coming up with entirely new methodologies to research African presence in today's society is our best bet to figuring out our cultural meaning. For example, looking back and attempting to "re-africanizing" Christianity, we could see that the cross resembles the Kongo cosmogram. Scholars are confident that many more historical and cultural discoveries await us, if we are simply willing to begin.

Dr. Gbadegesin (self Actualization)

Dr. Gbadegesin’s lecture was about self-actualization, and I feel the main points were education, knowledge, and character. Education was a point he brought up many times with quotes and connecting the word with different things. He pointed out that not only does education fall under many fields, but also it can improve the human condition. With education we can help contribute to the human condition. He closed out with a few quotes about education and how with it we can find our proper place in life. As quoted by Dr. G from his power point, ”When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ―proper place‖ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to go back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary- Dr. Carter G. Woodson”. When we are educated we know our place without needing to ask or be told. We understand where we fit in and how we can contribute to the world. I feel that this is true because without education we would not know our places or what to do. By using education as the determining factor we figure out exactly what we need to do with our lives.

Dr. Gbadegesin also spoke about knowledge and the certain distinctions there are with knowledge. There is academic knowledge which is what is learned through research and schooling. He also spoke about the key distinctions between being knowledgeable, having wisdom, and being an intellectual. The difference is that knowledge is “the acquisition of factual information without insight into their supporting reasons” (Dr. Gbadegesin ) while “wisdom is nothing but humanly oriented knowledge with an account” (Dr. Gbadegesin). This means that wisdom is having knowledge and having deeper insight into the subject you are knowledgeable about and knowing what to do with it to help humanity and serve the community, while knowledge is just facts that one has without deeper insight. However being intellectual is having knowledge and knowing how it can benefit society, but not having the skill or connections necessary to make it happen. I consider myself an intellectual because at my age I have knowledge but not enough skill or connections to make things happen. However, I feel the skill and connections will come later in life as I get older.

The final point Dr. Gbadegesin made was about character. He emphasized that as human beings character is our most important possession. He illustrated that point with the story of Iwa. Iwa being a woman and a metaphor for character, was mistreated by her husband Orunmila (meaning god of wisdom). Iwa then left Orunmila, and Orunmila’s life began to fall apart. This story translated into regular words is saying that when a man abuses his wisdom or and uses it improperly, he damages his character. Once a man loses his character he has nothing, because his character is his most valuable possession. That story and metaphor really made me think about how I portray myself and how I use my talents that God has blessed me with. I’ve always been careful about how I reveal myself to people and I always ensure it is in a dignified way that does not seem like I am conceited or looking down on others. This story made me realize that because of how I am, I have a lot in my life. I have many friends and loved ones that love and enjoy me because I do not abuse my talents and knowledge, but I am humble about it. That says volume to my character and provides inspiration to those that are not so humble about things.

Finally, I would like to talk about the similarities between Dr.Carr’s and Dr. Gbadegesin’s lectures. They both discussed how Ancient Kemet is where things started. Dr. Carr talked about how Kemet is where words, libraries, numbers, and many other things originated. While Dr. Gbadegesin touched on how before the bible and the philosphers of Europe there where the ancient texts and philosophers of Egypt/Kemet. A really interesting thing he brought up was that in 1962 time magazine published a story that suggested that moses was inspired by the coffin texts and that is where the ten commandments were derived from.

I found this lecture very interesting and it lead to a lot of deep critical thinking on my part. It made me do a little self reflection and analysis, and judge who I am, what my purpose is, and how I portray myself.

A Reflection on Omoluabi

Dr. Gbadegesin's lecture on omoluabi was actually much more interesting that I thought it'd be. He began talking about the term ashae and the significance of the research question and later began talking about what omoluabi essentially means and its ancient origins. But for me, the most interesting thing he mentioned was the yoruba poem and its emphasis character.

Ashae was a term first used in Dr. Carr's lecture last week. According to Dr. Carr, it means to "let it be." He went over it quickly but he gave us all the general idea of its meaning. This time, Dr. Gbadegesin spent much more time describing and giving us the essence of the word. He went down a list of paying homage to our ancestors, our environment, and, of course, the class of 2015, and with each statement, the students would answer ashae in acknowledgement. I really liked that the lectures were not isolated lessons on our history and the state of black culture because it makes it easier for the students to keep their thoughts attached and reinforced which would ultimately help them answer the research question. That question, "how have scholars across the various fields of study advanced and transformed academic knowledge related to enduring problems of the human condition," was touched upon in the first week of Freshman seminar as well as this week's lecture. Dr. Gbadegesin again gave us some more insight into its relevance. what he mentioned that hit me the most was the bit about acknowledging the human condition. I immediately began to think about what I could do, in small or large, to relieve some of these enduring problems mankind has had to deal with since the days of Eve. You know you're listening to a good lecture when you start thinking about how you want to change the world.

Dr. Gbadegesin eventually gets to the definition of the main word in title of the lecture: Omoluabi. The history of the word was pretty funny to me. A Yoruba entity, Orunmila, the God of Wisdom was married to Iwa, the entity of character and existence. But eventually, out of impatience, Orunmila lost Iwa. Losing the good of existence and character, Orunmila lost everything he had and desperately tried to get her back. The point of the story is that character is indispensable. Being an omoluabi, meaning a child begotten of the source of Iwa, is essential to fulfilling ourselves; to be a person of character. I was so interested in the Yoruba people's emphasis on character that I decided to look up the entire Yoruba poem mentioned by Dr. Gbadegesin:

Maintain your character my friend

Honor can leave from the house of a person

Beauty can leave from the body of a person

However a person’s character will go with a person to the grave

Character is like smoke, eventually it will rise (to the surface)

A person lives off in the distance in honor

But with closeness we learn of a person’s actions

Character will not leave its owner alone

It is a child’s character that gives the child a name

Even if the child seems fine, there is still a need for character

Even if the body looks fine, there is still a need for clothing

Even if the feet work fine, there is still a need for shoes

If a person seems fine but doesn’t have character

He/She is missing something very valuable indeed

Good character is a person’s bodyguard

Patience is the progenitor of character, Character is the progenitor of blessings

(Kambon, O. (2009, August 16). abibitumi kasa afrikan language and liberation institutes. Retrieved from http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/yoruba-language-resources/36993-toju-iwa-re-yoruba-poem.html)

To the Yoruba, character was everything; without it, you have nothing. So the only word I can think of that is appropriate to reflect my thoughts on this beautiful poem is "ashae."

Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Blog Post: Gladys Creppy-Hetherington

     Dr. Carr's lecture was very fascinatining to me. I felt that he addressed issues that i feel no one really talks about amongst the African American populations. People seem to want to forget their roots instead of embracing it and using it to put themselves ahead of the rest. I especially appreciate the fact that he is letting people know that the history of the African race goes way beyond what we are thought in schools. There is a more positive and graceful side to our culture than advertised in the media.
    The first point of the lecture that i felt as key was the part about African American thoughts/intelect. I agree that even the greatest African American intelectuals were limited to what was thougt to be the furthest people were suppose to think. They never really actually went beyond the norm. I believe that maybe it was because they lacked the education of prior Africans and their culture and way of thinking.
    The next point that i found to be key was how the history of the African race goes further back than people actually admitt. But no one reall focuses on it because our history is overshadowed by other events such as Christopher Columbus. The way they teach history in schools, you would think that African history didn't start until slavery begin.
    The last and finall key point i found was African American union. Dr. Carr used a metaphor of rooms without walls to show that the African race needs to unite in order to better us as a whole. I believe that if we all came together, we would be able to tackle issues facing our race such as the increasing number of incarserated African American males and the increase in the HIV rate in Washington, DC.
   The lecture opened both my eyes and mind to things that i had never thought about before. Now i am interested in finding ot exactly when the African race begin and how people thought back then. I believe that now days were just trying to fit in with the populaion instead of creating our own paths and being rpoud of who we are. Physically our race has come very far, but intelectually, we still have a distance to go.

Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience

Dr. Greg Carr was phenomenal with his presentation. Without his unending enthusiasm, Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience: An Mbongi would have been a dragging lecture that I would most likely be complaining about, not praising, in this reflection. It was easy to focus and naturally listen and learn about the many things Dr. Carr spoke about, such as the status of the African American intellect, aspects of an Mbongi, and African ties to common things we have and do today.

"The most serious threat to our [African] dignity is the domain of our intellectual ability" (Carruthers, Mdw Ntr, p. 1). That statement really hit home for me. Dr. Carr emphasized that the negro's current foundation of knowledge is based on conventional American and European Society and that we must reach beyond that to our African roots in order to achieve intellectual freedom. E. Franklin Frazier found that we needed not reflect the safe, restricted thinking of American Society but reflect the thinkers who seek to answer the fundamental questions that concern humanity, such as the meaning of existence. The meaning behind this for me is that my attained knowledge has been biased. My African history has been shrouded over with 2nd-generation ideas and teachings. I want to aim beyond what I've been taught and go back to the roots of humanity, which is essentially the rich roots of African history. I want to have the "divine conversations" Dr. Carr spoke of by connecting with my ancestors and figuring things out like, "what is the fundamental orientation of people."

Those roots exist today through many of our actions and habits. For example, our church congregations, routines and habits reflect aspects of an mbongi, a common shelter; in this shelter, we create a shared experience and thus we eliminate privacy. What you think belongs to you, but what you say belongs to the public. Some other words Dr. Carr mentioned were Boko and kioto. These words are related to mbongi and the aforementioned shared experience. Using boko, we attempt to break things down and come up with a solution to our problems to benefit and strengthen our community. Through kioto, we inhale and heal ourselves, as we would in a church when we come together in communal and the like to heal. Even words like Amen, meaning "the Hidden One" and one of the oldest words in the human language, are tied to Egyptian-African roots. I would normally think that the word has roots in Latin culture of perhaps be Hebrew related; but I would never think it came from Egypt.

This revelation and many more from Dr. Carr naturally made wonder and entertain many interesting thoughts that range from what I think my goals could do to aid in recovering deep thought, and how genealogy will now play significant a role in my life.

Khalil's Learning, Wisdom, And the African World Experience Entry

This lecture was quite interesting. The lecture “Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience” was mainly about cultural unity, African origins in Humanity and intellectual work, and reflecting on African Foundations. This lecture was done by Dr. Greg E. Carr, and was very informative as well as interesting. I was actually focused and listening intently to everything he said and discussed. Dr. Carr’s energy is one that keeps you focused and hanging on his every word.

The aspect of culture unity is very important to me, because I feel we should all be united as one in certain if not all aspects. As for the African origins in Humanity, it is no secret that all life started in Africa which means most if not all intellectual stuff began in Africa as well. I feel it is important to know ones origins and foundations to have a better quality of life.

In this lecture I learned many words such as : Boko, yemba, Lusanga, Kioto, Mbongi, sankofa, and Ashae. The words that spoke to me the most were Kioto, Mbongi, and Sankofa. In the case of Kioto ,which means to inhale or intake a healing property, I think of taking in a breath of fresh air or to get a clean start. I feel that everyone needs kioto every now and then. Sankofa might be my new favorite word because I like what it means and it somewhat stands for my life. Its meaning “go and get it” is my type of attitude. Finally with the concept of an Mbongi is very intriguing to me. “A room without walls, or where privacy has no room” is a very cool idea. A place where everything is shared and nothing is secret. When I connect the concept to every day life I realize there are so many forms of an mbongi like : cyphers, barbershops, beauty shops, mma rings and much more. We are all part of Mbongi’s whether we realize it or not. I look forward to being apart of Howards Mbongi and contributing everything I possibly can to it.

The final things I found interesting is that “amen” has Egyptian roots and literally means ‘hidden one’. I never thought that the word originated there, it’s just something I accepted as coming from Europe or some other place.